Course Description for Modern China

ASH3404:
Modern China

3

In 1750, Qing China was populous, vibrant, and strong. By 1911, gutted by savage civil wars, foreign imperial powers, and corruption, the last of the Chinese dynasties collapsed. The pillars that had for more than two millennia upheld the edifice of traditional China-the imperial monarchy and the Confucian bureaucracy-were no more. This course follows the painstaking transition from tradition to modernity in China, as the Chinese culture transformed gradually into a Chinese nation. Themes include: imperialism, westernization, nationalism, tensions between traditional and modern ideas, student activism and political change, and democracy and communism.